


A Quiet Place

by glorious_spoon



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Immortality, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 16:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20820095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_spoon/pseuds/glorious_spoon
Summary: It's the kind of place Alec seeks out when immortality starts to weigh too heavily on him.





	A Quiet Place

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

There aren’t many places like this left in the world, Magnus thinks, although the truth is that he’s always been a creature of urban landscapes, tall buildings and busy streets teeming with humanity. Too much empty space gives him too much time to think.

The centuries weigh on Alec differently, even though he has fewer of them than Magnus. They’ve figured that out over time. When Magnus feels the encroaching edges of immortality, he seeks out distractions, bright conversation and loud music and complicated spellwork to fill up the dark spaces of his head.

Alec seeks out space. Space from Magnus, yes, but more than that, just _space._ A quiet place to settle for a time.

It’s been fifteen years since Magnus has seen him. It doesn’t weigh on him the way it once might have; they’ve found their own rhythm to this endless dance, even if it’s not the one either of them expected centuries ago when everything was still so new.

Gulls cry in the distance, and he can hear waves crashing on the cliffs beneath, smell the salt spray in the air. When this place was first built, there were probably roads out to the island, but those have long since crumbled and the only way in now is by portal, helicopter, or boat. There’s a concrete pad on the far side of the island, though he doesn’t know if Alec uses it when he’s here. The romance of a fishing boat seems more his style, but even after all this time, he can still surprise Magnus.

It’s peaceful, though, when he steps out of the swirling vortex of his portal onto the soft grass. It’s not a place that he would have chosen to spend decades of his life, but he can see the appeal, for Alec.

There are chickens pecking in the grass, and as he watches, Alec rounds the side of the house, backlit by the high noon sunlight. His hair is grown shaggy, a scruff of a beard shading his cheeks, and he’s wearing some appalling combination of worn denim and layers of faded cotton.

He pauses when he catches sight of Magnus. Just for an instant, and then a smile spreads across his face, as wide and bright as the sun, and he looks like the boy Magnus first met in Pandemonium two and a half centuries ago. Something stutters in Magnus’s chest, and he takes a step forward, then another, and then they’re crashing together on the broad green lawn, Alec’s arms catching him and hauling him close.

“Hi,” Magnus breathes into his throat. He smells of wood smoke and clean sweat and sunshine, and the faded deflect rune still stings when Magnus presses his mouth there. “I missed you.”

Alec’s broad hands catch his jaw, tilting his head up for a kiss. Only when they break apart does he look at Magnus’s face, his hazel eyes bright and gleaming, his palms still warm on Magnus’s skin. “I missed you too.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [stay at home & watch the sunset](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24272170) by [eraseallpicturesofron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eraseallpicturesofron/pseuds/eraseallpicturesofron)


End file.
